It&#146;s a start

last updated 8 January 2015

Madrid

Spaniards approved the E.U. constitution this week, in a nationwide referendum in which fewer than half of voters participated. The low turnout, just 42.3 percent, was typical of votes for E.U. offices and laws. But E.U. backers said it was encouraging that the first country to vote on the constitution supported it. “Spaniards have shown our associates that we are advanced and determined pro-Europeans,” said Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega. The document must be ratified by all 25 E.U. members before it takes effect.